Inviting an English Catholic cardinal to take part in the Queen’s funeral signals the new King’s openness to ecumenical and interfaith dialogue. Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster’s inclusion was the first time for hundreds of years a Catholic cardinal or bishop has had a role in a royal funeral. Nichols is the president of the Read more
Pope Francis’ recent three-day visit to Kazakhstan seemed not to have been widely reported in the general media, including here in Italy where there’s news about him almost every day on TV and in the press. Most people around the world, including most Catholics, probably don’t even know that the pope made the September 13-15 Read more
Only the most myopic would deny that a kind of mushroom cloud has covered the Catholic Church for the past half-century. A small, but quite significant part of that spiritual nuclear winter has been the profound collapse of Sacred Music. Votaries of the “spirit of Vatican II” (in today’s au courant vernacular, “the New Paradigm”) Read more
The French Catholic Church is much diminished. Yet French Catholicism remains a powerful creative force. The Lazarus Association is one expression of its continuing inventiveness. The organization is pioneering a new approach to homelessness that has transformed the lives of hundreds of people, won papal approval, and spread across Europe. It began in 2006, when Read more
Cardinal Konrad Krajewski and those working with him emerged unscathed after they came under fire on Saturday, near the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia. Krajewski, was sent by Pope Francis to Ukraine to show the pope’s “closeness” to the Ukrainian people. “It would be good if you could go again to Ukraine, to the war zones, Read more
Women who have for years trodden a path of service to the church but still feel disenfranchised, marginalised and unheard were honoured simultaneously on Sunday in Auckland and Wellington by an event “Pink Shoes into the Vatican.” Be the Change, Catholic Church, Aotearoa New Zealand chose Sunday – the day before the anniversary of women’s Read more
On Friday Germany’s Synodal Way approved a text on the role of women in the Catholic Church, one that challenges the exclusion of women from sacramental ministry. The vote took place on the second day of the plenary session. The document “Women in ministries and offices in the Church” was facing its second reading. The Read more
Everybody loses when politics tries to poison church life and when church members use the logic of politics, an Italian cardinal says. “To poison ecclesial relations with the logic of politics is making trouble,” says Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the president of the Italian bishops’ conference. This isn’t just a problem in Italy, he adds. It Read more
Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral during on the afternoon of 8 September in Scotland. Her death was announced on September 9, around 5:00 am. (NZ time.) In a statement, Buckingham Palace said: “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will Read more
Yesterday St Joseph’s Home of Compassion rest home in Upper Hutt was facing imminent closure. Today it hopes to keep its doors open after all, says Chief Executive Chris Gallavin. Last month, Gallavin announced the 87-bed rest home would close. Hearing of the closure, Upper Hutt mayor Wayne Guppy said it was “catastrophic for the Read more